Intrepidation

Sad part is there's probably truth to that. v_v

I like it, and it says "Ferrari" loud and clear, but the the back is kind of ugly.

I never had a problem with the Cobalt's power delivery...it was quite peppy and never had an issue passing. I also found the doors to be nice and solid feeling, much better than the Cavalier a friend of mine has. Brakes were never an issue either. Only fuel economy, the nasty fabric, and the steering really bugged me. The interior is cheap but I can live with that. Also, I like the idea of the battery in the trunk because it keeps it nice and dry.

So yesterday we went to get the T&C out of the tow yard where it was being kept. Assuming it was drivable the plan was for me to drive it home with my girlfriend and mom following behind me. We get to yard, pay the bill and my girlfriend and I go to the van. It's way at the corner of the yard against a fence and about 6 inches away from some smashed up Elantra. I get in and start it up, then slowly back it out. I hear dragging and she points out the exhaust is on the ground...oh goodie. I move the van to an open space and notice that the force of the impact knocked it off of the hangers...no big deal. I get under the van and look around under it while I'm putting the exhaust back on. Yup...there's a big dent but nothing leaks and all of the suspension components fine. I also pull off teh side molding since it was hanging low. This is where it gets fun. I get up from under the van and one of the tow guys...I dunno if he's the boss or what...don't really care comes over with my mom. He then proceeds to tell me "it's unsafe to drive and the cop will pull you over and take away your license if you drive it because there is a dent in the side." I'm like..WTF? Yeah ok, because I had a swat team on my ass when we drove the Prizm across town to a body shop right? Before I get a word in he interrupts me and starts to tell my mom "it's worthless, they totaled it you should just leave it here. If you take it away I have to call the insurance company and tell them and they will drop your claim" Then he goes on "interrupting me again with scare tactics like what will we do if it gets hit again since the driver's door is stuck?" I',m thinking to myself, hey major douchebag? There's 3 other doors to exit from? Unless I get sandwiched between a walll, a car one side and a car in my ass I think I can you know...open another f@#king door. He continues you cut me off each time I go to say something, and my mom, being my mom, buys into his BS hook line and sucker. He then comes up with his best line yet "i'm on your side, i'm looking out for you and I'll help you with the insurance company so they don't give you the lowest value". She buys into this crap, which infuriates me because I have been down this road before, with the same totaled car issue. Furious, I say f@#k it, and go back to my car. We leave and I give her an earful...pissed is putting it mildly, because I hate how my word is always ranked lower than everyone else's, even some stupid stranger out to make a buck. When the Prizm was totaled the insurance company didn't care that I took it home, because even though they declared it totaled I said I wanted to take it to a shop and have it looked t. Yet amazingly I was not denied my claim or pulled over by the entire police department for driving it. So guys, you can see where my frustration comes from. I'd have AAA tow it but our coverage expired in November and was never renewed (my mom was the plan holder and never told me she didn't renew it, I found it out yesterday after calling AAA). Do you think the insurance company can "reject a claim" for taking your own car out of the tow yard under it's own power? Will the cops suddenly be alerted to a van with a big dent in it going across town and drop their donuts and leave the scene of a murder to converge on it?

I wonder if the Prizm could do it? It does have a tow hitch after all.

I've heard of that too. It's a horrible engine design, but on the flip side it's only started ahppening withing the last 3k miles...so going 189k problem free is pretty good for any engine and amazing for one of these. Worse comes to worse I drop a 3.2 or 3.5 in it, which may be cheaper anyway. Nice thing about Intrepids VS Sebrings is that the V6's are interchangeable without any modifications besides reshaping of the exhaust pipe.

I'll check that. I haven't really updated much but it still stalls...but as always it does it when it feels like it and never when I want it to. It'll always stall when stopped or coasting/braking never when accelerating. Usually power just cuts altogether. However sometimes if I can catch it and give it gas it won't stall. When the does stall it'll start right back up like nothing happened and won't stall again for the rest of the day. It won't happen every day either. I don't drive as much, partly the stalling, partly gas prices, but we used it extensively today without a problem...go figure. Now that summer's here I will actually have time to tend to it. Oh and the oil level is fine.

Yeah, I was planning to touch up the paint and do all kinds of stuff to it along with the other cars this summer, but I guess that's not gonna happen. It held up pretty damn well considering the Pathfinder was going 30mph according to the accident report. Yeah the 4-way is still in there.

Here's the damage:

Oh Your God, I want the `63 Riviera!

Noted. Anyway, the good news is that unlike us, mom already has a witness to testify, who happens to work for the city of Methuen too. We're gonna head to the tow yeard soon to check out the van, I have yet to see it.

Here we go again. My final project was due today to be set up in the art gallery. As always, my project came down to the wire and I showed up at 3:30 (you could come in as early as 9am). This is all well and find, although I had to run around to get a computer for my video and other good stuff. Anyway, It's about 4:15 when my cell phone rings, and Jessica is frantic on the phone. I'm too tired to go into details (running on 3 hours of sleep since 8:30 this morning), so I'll go into details later but apparently some f@#king retarded asshole piece of $h! in a `97 Pathfinder ran a red light and T-boned my mom in the T&C going like 30mph. I haven't seen it yet but the thing sounds totaled from what I hear and mom had to go to the hospital. I can honestly say I wish death on a massive scale upon f@#king idiots...so that's like 90% of the population. If the thread title is too offense feel free to edit it...just very pissed right now.

Not a car-related one, but too funny not to post.

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The GMnext blog has a post up that talks about the potential viability of a low-displacement turbocharged motor -- the direct-injected 2.0L Ecotec turbo, specifically -- in upcoming GM cars, including the Camaro. Let's talk about this a little. The breathed-upon Ecotec delivers 260 horses and 260 lb-ft of torque, and if you've driven, say, the Sky or Solstice equipped with it, you know just how ballsy it really is. It's more powerful (but less torquey) than either V8 offered in the '87 IROC-Z that I thought was so cool back during high school. The turbo four might well be a nice solution in a future iteration of the Camaro, but is the fuel economy argument for it as rock solid as it might seem on the surface? The Pontiac Solstice GXP with the turbo four has an EPA fuel economy rating of 19 city/28 hwy when mated to a 5-speed manual. Not bad at all for the performance it delivers, but that same drivetrain in the bigger, heavier Camaro isn't likely to give you equal returns in terms of fuel consumption. Over at AutoblogGreen, Sam notes that the 2.0 turbo's lighter weight relative to the six- and eight-cylinders the Camaro's going to launch with should help somewhat. He follows by reminding us that GM's next-gen mild hybrid system will work with RWD cars and predicts that we'll see a 2.0T hybrid Camaro by 2011 or so. This would dovetail neatly with the first phase of the new CAFE regs, and we're sure GM would find a way to engineer a hypothetical turbo/hybrid's fuel economy numbers so they'd play nice within Uncle Sam's rules. Great. The issue with all this talk of four-cylinder turbos and hybrids for a muscle car (along with attempts to redefine the class and reset expectations) is that everyone conveniently overlooks just how good the existing V8 is. In the 2008 Corvette Coupe, the big bad 6.2L LS3 is rated at 16 city/26 hwy. Hardly a guzzler in the traditional sense, the V8's rating isn't that far off from the direct-injected Ecotec turbo. Furthermore, the V8's fuel economy comes with 430 horsepower and 424 lb-ft of torque. Those are numbers befitting a muscle car like a Camaro. Who's to say a direct-injected LS-family V8 with efficiency tech like hybridization and/or cylinder deactivation wouldn't be just as effective at meeting the federal fuel economy requirements that begin taking effect a few years from now? You could potentially satisfy the government-created CAFE gods without giving the customers who want actual, traditional muscle the finger in the process. Yes, the consensus seems to be that smaller engines will be a necessity across the board in the new CAFE era, but let's not summarily ignore the bigger ones just because they're big. Source: Autoblog

Or, alternatively, there's no real conspiracy and idiots and assholes aren't bound to one make or model.

Had it happen in the Intrepid, Shadow, and Town and Country. How do you explain that one?

My car was built in 2000 (not sure of the month, how do I find that out?), so it's basically 8 years old now. I celebrate my car's birthday of me owning it, because I remember the exact day I took it home Nov. 24, 2006, although I technically purchased it on th 22nd...I remember that day as thought it was yesterday. I thoroughly cleaned out the car and waxed it as well as putting premium in it.

-->insert immature comment here<--

I thought Iron man was excellent. I found the characters to be very good and the story to be pretty solid. Sure, it's not the same depth of Final Fantasy, but then again it doesn't take 40 hours to get through it either.

Well, they each on is an 11x17 flyer.

Yeah, I noticed that too and played with teh wording abit. Do you think it's too wordy or is that a reasonable amount of body text?

I saw that on Autoblog...pretty funny stuff, but I'd rather ride a bike...it's probably safer.

C'mon Guys!